“Dear child, not poor at all! But this is the second time I’ve missed her. If I didn’t know your mother so well, I’d suspect she was avoiding me. You’ll tell her how disappointed I am. The moment I heard that Agamemnon was back, I said I must come over at once and tell Helen how glad I was … Dear me! … You’ve heard from your aunt, I suppose?”

“No, we haven’t heard from any of them directly. A man brought the news that Agamemnon is home again. Mother told me. Father has sent him an invitation to spend a few days with us as soon as he’s at leisure.”

“Your uncle, Hermione, is a very distinguished man. You ought to be proud of him. I don’t mean, of course, that your father isn’t distinguished too, but Agamemnon always had … well, there was a certain something about him. It’s hard to define personality. I never could understand why your aunt didn’t appreciate what she had—most women would think themselves well off with such a husband.”

“Perhaps she doesn’t want to be well off,” said Hermione. “Mother always seems annoyed when one speaks respectfully of ordinary comforts and of an established life. They seem to have their own notion of success. But I ought not to speak so of my aunt. I dare say she does appreciate her husband—what she has seen of him. I know nothing to the contrary.”

“My dear child, you don’t mean to pretend you haven’t heard how Clytemnestra’s been going on! Of course you have! It’s the most general subject of conversation among all the friends of the family. I don’t know where women get the courage to do such things. Not that I want that kind of courage! But you can’t say she appreciates Agamemnon if she’s living with Ægisthus.”

“I don’t feel that I know much about such things, Charitas, but I fancy I can understand my aunt’s point of view, at least to a degree. I don’t defend the irregularities in her conduct, but she has her good qualities. Orestes—my cousin, you know—is devoted to her, and I always remind myself that so fine a man wouldn’t care for a person with no virtues whatever.”

“Perhaps he’s merely dutiful,” said Charitas. “In any case, I’m glad to hear that of Orestes; I had thought him perhaps a bit too advanced in his ideas. You know, he didn’t go to Troy, though he is quite formidable, they say, in the field. Some one told me—who was it?—that he stayed at home because he didn’t approve of the war. I feared he might be temperamentally disloyal. But Clytemnestra seems to me undoubtedly—I don’t suppose your uncle will take her back? You said you hadn’t heard.”